Le Chat Noir of England
by yzlee0428
Summary: The French Revolution is in full swing, but a hero arises that saves the aristocrats from their head-popping fate. Lady Marinette Agreste is asked to find this hero and bring him to justice for her home country France. But can she face the truth of who he is? Or even figure it out? The Scarlet Pimpernel Au! rated K for drug use and mentions of blood.
1. Chapter 1

Hello! Sorry I completely abandoned my other story. I got anxiety and was too scared to continue it.

This new story is based of off _The Scarlet Pimpernel,_ one of my favorite books. It takes place during Revolution era France, and I thought it would be fitting since it is one of the first superhero in disguise stories. But since we all know who our heroes are, the reveal will be more for our characters and less for us. I hope you enjoy!

Paris, France. 1792. The best way to live is by, well, "getting a head". With aristos fleeing the country, and the Revolutionaries rising to power, fear was in the hearts of those who were once filled with bliss and ignorance of the outside.

Monsieur Raincomprix thought the aristos fleeing for their lives was quite the humorous spectacle. They thought they could flee him, the great Revolutionary. Today, he discovered four families trying to escape through the gates in hidden floors of carriages. But alas, he was too clever for that. He simply stopped the nervous coachmen and asked to investigate inside where he found his victims. Everyday at noon, the town would gather to watch the beheadings at Madame Guillotine in the town square.

Today was going quite well for the Monsieur, when an old lady hunched over driving a cart started to leave town. _Oh look. Probably more aristos._ he thought. Before the coach could leave, he stopped the old woman and asked to look inside. She replied, "Of course officer, but my poor grandson is back there with small pox, so we have left he be. I would recommend you make the check quick. All of his siblings are at home infected too, but had to stay at home."

"Uh- no thank you madame. You may be on your way."

"Merci, monsieur!" And the cart rattled off into the distance.

~.o.0.o.~

Dover, England. The Akuma's Rest. The Cesaire family was talking to two Englishmen by the fire. "Oh thank you so much for saving us monsieurs! But you must tell me, why do you and the supposed 'Chat Noir' save the aristos?" Three figures in the corner of the room stood up. Two leave, while the other slips underneath a low-lit bench.

"Well you see Mrs. Cesaire, we almost find it like sport helping these people. But at least the French still know what smallpox is in all of this crazy revolution." Everyone in the room gave a little chuckle at this comment. Mrs. Chamack, the owner of the pub, came into the room with some dinner for the guests.

"Here you are sirs, and ladies. Now, tell me news of France at this perilous time for them."

"Their state is still chaotic as usual. We managed to sneak this family out quickly, but their father is still stuck in Paris. Chat Noir is still at large, and we still have no idea who he is even though we work with him constantly."

"But what kind of Englishman would risk his life like that for the French?"

"We do not know, m'am. But he is a noble fighter."

There was a knock at the door. "Oh, that must be Lady and Lord Agreste!" she said. A beautiful woman entered the room after she opened the door for her. Her hair was black and curled down her back, and her dress was a beautiful shade of navy blue. Her facial features were sharp, yet gracious from the small freckles that littered her nose. She gave a small smile.

"Salut, monsieurs, madames. It is nice to see you safely out of Paris." She walked over to the fireplace and took off her gloves. "It is very chilling out there. But nevermind me, how was your trip to Paris?" Mrs. Cesaire turned her head to the woman.

"We do not associate with your kind. Alya, I forbid you from talking to her."

"But maman! Marinette and I went to school together! I know her and she is not a bad person."

"Then explain to me what happened to the Bourgeois family. I believe it was you that sold them out to the Revolutionaries."

Marinette gritted her teeth. "That was not on purpose. They were not careful. I did not mean to give out their location, but my brother, Nino-"

"Is there a problem, my lady?" Lord Adrien Agreste had entered the room. "I heard a commotion from inside." He smiled. He looked foolish and unknowing.

"It is nothing, Lord Agreste. Madame Cesaire was mistaken on her information." She sat down and refused to face her husband or the lady.

"Come. Why be gloom at this time? I believe your family has been saved by the Chat Noir, Madame Cesaire." He smiled at the woman, but his charms did not affect her stubbornness.

"Oui. We have been saved by him, but we are still stuck with the presence of your lady. Come, Alya." She dragged her daughter out of the room.

"Pardon my asking, but who is this 'Chat Noir'? I have not heard of him before." Asked Marinette.

"He is an Englishman that risks his life for French aristos. My name is Max, by the way. It is a pleasure to be your acquaintance, Lady Agreste."

"It is a pleasure. But you must tell me more about this man. Who is he?" Lord Agreste excused himself from the room to tend to his horses.

"That is the thing, madame. No one knows who he is, really. He always has a disguise. Sometimes he dresses up as an old lady or man, or simply wears a black mask and a black hood over his head. He is also a skillful swordsman, and very good at changing his voice." Marinette's heart fluttered at the thought of this man. He sounded perfect. She did not even remember the reason she married Adrien. He acted so foolish in love, that she wanted to see that expression all the time. But now, their love had faded. Madame Cesaire was not completely wrong in her accusation. The Bourgeois family had a daughter who fell in love with her younger brother, Nino, but the girl's family found out about their love and tried to have Nino arrested. But when the Revolution started, she was still angry at the family attempting to harm her brother. One day, she accidentally let slip that the family was in hiding in the city. This led to their beheading, and she still felt guilt of helping the family to their fate. The day after her marriage, she told Lord Adrien of this, and they drifted apart, rarely trusting each other with any information.

"Well, he most certainly sounds fascinating. But you must excuse me, for I have an appointment at the docks with my brother. He is leaving for France once again."

After everyone had left the room, a man crawled out from under a bench with a smile on his face and a notebook in his hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello readers! I will not be able to update everyday due to homework but I will try and update whenever I can. Some things to clarify if you have or have not read _The Scarlet Pimpernel._ There will be no kwamis, and Marinete will not be Ladybug. Nino is Marinette's brother in this, as you will see this chapter, and I hope everything makes sense. If anyone has questions you can leave it in a review or send me a personal message. I would also like to reply to a guest review of Miss Miau. I AM SO GLAD YOU HAVE WANTED THIS I HONESTLY THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE.

Enjoy Chapter 2!

"My lady, would you like me to walk you to the dock?" asked Lord Adrien.

"No thank you. I need time to think." replied Marinette. Adrien left with a bow and she continued her walk down to the dock. A man with glasses was talking to the ship captain. Marinette smiled and ran towards him, embracing him in a hug. "Nino! I made it!"

Nino smiled and returned the hug. "I would never doubt that my most loyal family member would forget to see me off."

"How long until the ship leaves?"

"We have ten minutes. So you better start talking about the deal with you and Lord Adrien." She winced at the sound of his name. She knew they were not the happiest of couples. But she hoped Nino would not bring it up.

"We just need a little more time to get to know each other I guess.I swear he is the biggest fool in England. He never shows remorse at the death in France and is always laughing and being so silly. But less talk of me and more of you. I will miss you so dearly. How could you leave me here by myself?" she laughed, trying to keep it lighthearted. She really would miss her brother, but she did not want to leave him with a sad feeling.

"You know I must return to help with the revolution. Papillion needs me for the investigative group since you are not there anymore to help. Although I do wish we could end all of this fighting soon. It is tiring cleaning up blood and heads everyday," he sighed. "Something horrible has happened to our poor, beautiful country, dear sister. But I fear I should not say that. Papillion has his spies around looking for more aristos."

"You may speak your mind here. We are not in France." she said as she took his hand.

"But we are not far. Only a few miles away is our country. You will not miss me much. I am not far away. And you have Lord Adrien to look after you." Nino was eight years her senior, and they always looked after each other when their parents died at a young age. He watched after her until her marriage. Even then, they were still very loyal to each other. But after she moved to England, he missed her presence.

"My ride is about to leave." They linked their arms and walked to the gangway.

"I wish you luck, Nino." She hugged him one last time as he boarded the ship. Marinette walked back up the cliffs to the pub. Outside, three men were smoking cigars. She nodded at them and headed inside where she was approached by Mrs. Chamack. She was surprised Adrien had not come to welcome her, since he was always eager to do so. Maybe he was off being foolish somewhere else.

"Miss, a man is here to see you from France. He is in the study." She led her to the room. Inside, Papillion, one of the many faces from Paris she missed, was sitting next to the fire. This filled her with joy at the leaving of her dear brother.

"Papillion? By what reason are you here in England?"

"I am here on business. But what about yourself?" He took her hand and kissed it with a small bow.

"I married Lord Agreste. I live here with him. But I do miss France."

"Well, I have a request for you, madame."

"Yes?"

"I do believe you have heard of the Chat Noir? The criminal of Paris nowadays." A criminal? He did not sound like that to her.

"Yes, I heard about him today. Why do you ask?"

"I need to find him and bring him to justice. He has broken many Parisian laws and must be put to the guillotine." She touched her neck. Her eyes were filled with worry and horror.

"Why do you ask my help?"

"Because you are French and must be loyal to your home country, and now you are English. You can find this man for me. He must be rich to afford all of the disguises he has and to hire all the help he gets on his escapades. He is good at swordplay, so he must have had previous training. Does this sound familiar to you at all?" She pondered for a moment. Her own husband was rich, but he was not a fighter. One of the main reasons she married him was because he was so in love with her, she wanted to feel that love and caring all the time. She did not care for his money, but that feeling of being cherished brought her to accept his marriage proposal.

"Why should I help you? What have you done for me?"

He smiled. "I do believe your brother has just left for France again?" She nodded. "I have recently found something interesting about your brother. He has been found helping Chat Noir. Even though I was positive he was helping the revolution." She let out a small gasp. "Do you realize my power if France? I have many men there that will bend to my very will. And finding your brother will not be a difficult task for them. So. Will you help me find this Chat Noir?" A few tears escaped her eyes. This could not be. Her dear brother should not be punished for this hero's acts.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Bring me all information about Chat Noir as soon as you find it. Once we figure out who he is and he is dead, you can see your brother. Do you understand me?" She nodded quickly. "Good. I have other business to attend to here, and I would walk away quietly if you see anything suspicious tonight. Goodnight, madame." He left the room with a bow, and Marinette was slowly crying. How could she protect her brother? She decided to get some sleep and take in what had just happened and she headed to her room.

~.o.0.o.~

The two sirs of Kim and Max were seating by the fire, drinking and talking. The door to the room opened and in walked three men and Papillion.

"Can we help you, sirs?" Asked Kim.

"Yes you can. I need to arrest you for helping the criminal Chat Noir." One of the men knocked him out while the other also took out Max. "Search their pockets. I know they are associated with Chat Noir. I just need proof."

"I have found something, monsieur." The first man brought him a group of small letters.

"Perfect." Papillion started looking through them. They had notes about meeting up at the Parisian gates and getting more aristos out. Two of them were signed by Nino Dupain. "Well, now I actually have the proof to show her, but she seemed to have gotten the message clear enough."


	3. The opera deal

Hello readers! I am going to start having chapter titles now instead of numbers. If it was not clear in the story, Marinette does not love Adrien. They used to have a fairly happy marriage, but now it is not going as well. She calls him a fool because he is always so happy and smiling and seems to not take things seriously. I hope that clears things up. And also, a tobacco snuff box is a little wooden box that a man would carry and put his sniffing tobacco in. Papillion has an addiction. This will be important later. ;) And I do hope all of you know Chat Noir is Adrien and Adrien acting like a "fool" is his way of keeping his identity secret.

I hope you like this chapter and keep reading future chapters from here!

The Covent Garden theater was packed with people that night at the showing of _Madame Butterfly._ Hundreds of show-comers were chatting in their seats, while waiting for the show to begin. Some of these people were Alya and her mother, talking away about the Agreste marriage. "I do say, Lord Agreste is richer than any other man his age. You could take all the income of those men, combine it, and it would still be less than his. This is obviously why Lady Agreste married him," said Madame Cesaire. Alya rolled her eyes.

"Maman, Lady agreste could have gotten a fortune in France with her popularity there. She clearly doesn't want money from people." Alya retorted.

"But she might have wanted to avoid-" Alya elbowed her mother gently as Lord and Lady Agreste sat down near them in their theater box. Marinette was wearing very fine jewels all around her neck, and her gown was fit for the monarchy. Lord Adrien was also very finely dressed, and he had a smile on his face as he helped his wife sit down.

The opera began, and Marinette fascinated by the performance, when a chauffeur got her attention. "Madame, a man would like to speak to you for a few moments." She turned her head to her husband. He nodded, and she arose. Outside the theater box, Papillion was waiting.

"Madame Marinette, if you would follow me." She slowly walked behind the man, noticing his stride was very confident, and almost giddy. He brought them into a side room, and they both sat down in two empty chairs.

"What is it that you need from me now, monsieur? I do believe we were settled from our last meeting." She gave him a slight glare as he started to chuckle.

"I now have a certain letter to show you from a certain someone. I do believe you will recognize the handwriting and signature." He gave her a letter, and as she opened it she gasped. It was Nino's handwriting and his very own signature at the bottom. "After reading the contents of this, it seems that your brother is a very big helper of Chat Noir. Not just a supporter. Now, how are you going to help me find Chat Noir?"

Marinette panicked. This man could kill her brother. But for him to live, she would have to help sell out a man that seemed kind and just wanted to help. The aristos were the cause of her family's previous poverty. And Chat Noir was helping them. But death was never a just punishment, was it? "I will help you, but what can I do? I am a lady of a man who is very influential, so if I do anything out of the normal, it will bring him down with me."

"Your brother is in danger. I do believe that is enough motivation for you?" He gave her a sly smile. "Do not fret. I have more information for you tonight to help you." His hand held more letters besides the one from Nino. She noticed most of them had a small, black cat head drawn in the corner.

"Monsieur, pardon my asking, but what is that cat symbol? I can see it is on the majority of your papers." she said.

He pulled out one of the letters. "I am glad you asked. That there is the symbol of the Chat Noir. He leaves it on any letters left from him. Now, this is the letter I think will really interest you. Have you and your husband been invited to Lord Renville's ball the night after today?" The fact that he knew about the social gathering made her uneasy. Lord Renville was English, so why would this Frenchman know about it?

"Yes, we have been invited and we are planning on attending. Why do you bring it up? What does this have to do with Chat Noir?"

"Once again, I am so glad you asked, madame. May I read you a section of this letter?" She nodded and he began. "'I need you all to remember that we should not meet more than necessary. I do believe I have given you all instructions to follow before the 3rd of this month. If the need arises of you to speak to me again, which I hope it does not, I will be at R.'s ball. You may speak to me there.' In this corner of this letter is the small black cat. Chat Noir. Do you understand what he means by 'R's ball'?"

"I am assuming Lord Renville's ball that my husband and myself will be attending tomorrow."

"Correct. Now, I need you to find out who he is while you are there. I will also be attending so I can help you. Do we have an agreement?" She wanted to say no, and leave, but her brother's life was on the line.

"If we discover who he is, may I have that letter from Nino so I can burn it? And then my brother will be safe?" She tried to sound confident as she spoke, but her voice was wavering.

"You may have it… the day after. I need to arrest him first. Then you can have the letter." All bits of fear she had left in her were gone at this statement.

"Do you not trust me?! I am actually helping you find this man and you won't give my letter until the _day after_ just so you can arrest him? How do I know you will not kill my brother by then?" she yelled.

"I could kill your brother right now if you do not cooperate with me. So do we have a deal, Madame Agreste?"

"... Fine. But you better not harm my brother." It was like Papillion had just put a knife up to her throat and was ready to cut if she made one small move.

A knock from outside the room startled them, and as Marinette got up to open it, Adrien popped his head in, smiling like a fool. "My lady, are you ready to depart? I got word from the chauffeur that you were in here." She stood up, fixed her cloak, and took her husband's arm.

"Yes, I am ready to leave. Au revoir, Papillion. I will see you again at the ball." Papillion gave her a sarcastic smile, as he got out his tobacco snuff box that she had seen him use before. She hurried and left the room, walking to her coach to return home and prepare for the ball.

Next chapter is the ball. Will Marinette and Papillion find out who Chat is or will it stay secret? Tune in next time! (which will probably be Tuesday night/ really early Wednesday morning)


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